FRENCH
Paper 3015/01
Translation and Composition
General comments
Overall the Examiners were impressed by much of the work that they saw and there were a number of
superb performances right at the top of the range. There were some excellent answers to the essay
questions which used a wide range of lexis and syntax though frequently the writing was inaccurate.
Candidates should be reminded that a broad and fluent command of the material is highly commendable and
will be well rewarded, but that accuracy in writing is essential for full credit to be given. The translation into
French was once again a very popular choice and many candidates are to be congratulated on the high
standard they achieved in this question; they had clearly worked hard to learn a good range of vocabulary
and grammatical structures and there were many very good marks indeed which frequently mirrored, or in
some cases exceeded, the marks gained for the essay. Set against this was the fact that, sadly, many
candidates wasted marks through sheer carelessness and an apparent unwillingness to read the English
carefully and translate exactly what is there.
As usual, it was clear that candidates had been well prepared for this Examination, but each year some still
prejudice their chances of success by ignoring the clearly stated instructions. For each essay question,
candidates are instructed that they must not write more than 150 words. A number of candidates persist in
ignoring this instruction and often exceed this number by an enormous margin – this year, it was common to
find essays of anything between 200 and 600 words. It would appear either that candidates do not read the
rubric or that they do not believe the Examiners will exact any penalty. Yet again, therefore, it should be
emphasised in the strongest possible terms that the rubric is unequivocal and that candidates writing any
amount in excess of 150 words are simply wasting their time. They should be reminded as clearly as
possible that nothing whatsoever is taken into account after the 150 word limit for either Language or
Communication – no tolerance at all is applied. Thus, those writing at great length will certainly be penalised
by losing Communication marks - indeed all 5 marks can easily be lost with very long essays which do not
begin to address the required points within the first 150 words. Furthermore, by writing at excessive length,
candidates clearly will not have the time to check their work as carefully as they should in order to minimise
the incidence of error.
A second continuing point of concern is that some candidates insist on ignoring the rubric by answering three
questions instead of the two that are clearly required. No advantage will be gained by doing this; indeed,
candidates answering three questions are likely to find themselves rushing their work.
Thus, Centres are strongly urged to remind their candidates to adhere to the instructions in the question
paper and that marks are likely to be affected where these instructions are ignored.
The vast majority of scripts were well and neatly presented and this was, as always, much appreciated by
the Examiners. However, a number of cases of poor presentation with messy and unclear handwriting were
noted. Candidates should be reminded, particularly if they make alterations to their script, that, while
Examiners will always try to be tolerant, illegibility and ambiguous writing are never credited.
Communication Marks (Questions 1 and 2 only): Each essay has a maximum score of 5 available for
successful communication of relevant points in unambiguous, but not necessarily completely accurate
French. It should be noted that, while Examiners show considerable tolerance of faulty spelling and
grammatical inaccuracy when awarding Communication marks, a mark will not be given for a phrase
containing a verb form which is so inaccurate that the meaning becomes unclear. Poor handling of verbs
was by far the most significant factor preventing the award of Communication marks. In order to score 5
marks, candidates must make clear reference to at least five of the pictures in Question 1 and to all the
given rubric points in Question 2. Lengthy essays will therefore almost invariably be penalised if they fail to
cover one or more of the later points or pictures.
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Comments on specific questions
Question 1
Picture Story
Of the essays this was by far the most popular choice. The story appeared to be clear and there were very
few cases of confused narrative though the exact identity of the four people depicted in the story was the
subject of multiple variations. The main thrust of the story whereby the lady’s bag was inadvertently left on
the roof of the car from which it fell when they departed, then to be picked up and returned to them by a
helpful policeman, was generally clearly understood and related though the uniformed man was described in
a number of ways. The Examiners were surprised that the obvious word agent was frequently apparently not
known or was deliberately replaced by something less usual (or even invented and therefore not scoring).
Candidates should be reminded that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with stating the obvious and using a
simple word where one is available. Most candidates started their narrative, as was intended, with the
greetings at the coach station, but some were unable to resist filling in a lengthy background scenario to
explain what had happened before this. Such an approach is pointless as no Communication marks will be
awarded for ideas not suggested by the pictures. The greetings, particularly between the girl and the lady,
the stowing of the luggage, departure, the fate of the bag, the journey and the events upon arrival at home
were usually explained clearly. However, many candidates had used up their 150 word allowance well
before the point at which the family arrived home and, in cases of extreme length, many did not get beyond
the second picture, thereby immediately losing 3 Communication marks (out of a total mark for the question
of 30).
The conventional third person narrative approach was, of course, frequently adopted, but many chose to
write in the first person, most commonly as the girl or the father. Taking the point of view of the lady posed
no problems, but those who opted to be the policeman created an unnatural situation – it is generally not
recommended to adopt the narrative standpoint of someone who does not appear in all the pictures as
unnecessary limitations are then placed upon the narrative.
The narrative was frequently competently executed and many candidates showed confident handling of the
necessary vocabulary as well as a variety of appropriate structures. Most candidates knew common words
such as sac, valise, bagages, saluer, rencontrer, ramasser, embrasser, voiture, coffre, toit, tomber, parler,
rendre, remettre. It should be noted that a good range of vocabulary will always score highly as will complex
syntax – use of infinitive constructions and present and past participles, for example. Not all candidates
managed tense usage successfully and there was frequent confusion between the Imperfect and the
Perfect/Past Historic. The Pluperfect was not always handled correctly, either not being used when it was
required, or, more rarely, being constantly used without justification. Minor common errors were confusion
between car, comme and quand; between se and ce and between ces and ses.
Question 2
(a)
Letter
This was a popular choice. Not all candidates understood the rubric and there was considerable
confusion over who the letter was being addressed to and about what. The letter was to be
addressed to the host family (covered by the general form of address Chers amis) following a stay
with them and commenting on that stay. Provided the essential elements were covered, the
Examiners decided to be tolerant over minor misunderstandings. Five clear points were mentioned
in the rubric and all had to be covered to qualify for the award of the five Communication marks.
This year saw the first of the new-style questions, bringing Question 2(a) into line with the other
two options, whereby the opening words are given. This is intended to guide candidates into
immediate treatment of the relevant material in order to encourage them not to waste their time on
irrelevant preamble which cannot score Communication marks. With all these questions,
candidates should copy out the given introduction and then carry straight on into the first rubric
point. A reference to the journey made when returning from the visit was required (though the
Examiners also accepted mention of the outward journey at the beginning of the holiday); then to
the welcome given by the hosts to the visitor, to be followed by a short description of any touristtype visit plus an activity which they enjoyed (swimming, shopping, dancing, etc.). Finally a brief
impression was required – even as simple a statement as C’était très agréable was adequate.
Many candidates fulfilled these tasks successfully, though, as hinted above, some wrote to their
own friends about the holiday they had spent with foreign hosts. The majority dealt in a satisfactory
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manner with the points outlined above. Some rubric points will, of course, invite greater length than
others, but a single, clear reference in an acceptable tense is sufficient for the award of a
Communication mark. The points concerning the journey, the visit and the activity could clearly be
dealt with at almost any length. Even where candidates have avoided the trap of wasting words on
irrelevant preamble, they should still beware of dwelling at excessive length on any one rubric point
in order to ensure that they deal with all five before reaching the word limit.
Candidates who started with the given opening followed immediately by relevant treatment of the
rubric points usually covered the material appropriately. Some, however, in spite of being given the
lead-in, could not resist then turning to a conventional letter opening formula full of stock phrases
and irrelevant references with the inevitable result that, once into the body of the letter and the
actual rubric points, they quickly ran out of words. They should be encouraged to avoid doing this.
The best candidates were able to express their ideas in a range of appropriate and accurate
French which gained high marks for Language. Competence in handling different tenses is clearly
vital here if a high score is to be gained and this was not always evident. Many candidates, in
particular, seem to have little appreciation of the difference between the Perfect and Imperfect
tenses. It should also be noted that the Past Historic is not accepted in a letter. Correct handling
of a multiplicity of other linguistic aspects is equally important as marks for Language are only
awarded for accurate usage and not for ‘near-misses’.
(b)
Dialogue
This was the least popular of the three options but the subject clearly did appeal to a number of
candidates some of whom wrote witty and cogent dialogues in which the errant son or daughter
frequently put up a spirited defence to the parental accusations of irresponsibility! Friends’ cars (or
their parents’) breaking down, non-appearance of taxis, non-functioning mobile phones, accidents
en route were some of the recurring reasons for the late return and most speakers were contrite
though there were those more defiant individuals who claimed entitlement to a much greater
degree of independence from parental supervision than they were apparently being given. It
should be noted that only the actual words of the conversation should be written (with an indication,
of course, of which person is speaking). Any kind of narrative interjections or description via
reported speech is contrary to the rubric and will be ignored in the marking.
(c)
Narrative
This was another popular choice and many candidates seemed to relish the scope it gave to their
imaginations. As a result of being given the opening words, there were few irrelevant preambles
this time before the account of the camping trip started – though, as with the other essay questions,
some candidates dealt with the earlier points at far too great a length and thus ran out of words
before completing the Communication tasks. In spite of the foregoing comment, a very small
number of candidates seemed to go out of their way to try to avoid the restriction imposed by the
given opening, either by writing irrelevant material and then quoting the opening words when well
into the essay, or by repeating the given phrase and then indulging in a lengthy flashback. Both
these approaches are pointless and will affect the marks awarded.
Candidates were required to refer to the arrival at the camp site, the process of putting up the tent,
the onset of inclement weather, the decision to move into a nearby hotel and the (usually
disappointed) feelings on the part of the participants (who were, of course, stated in the rubric to be
friends, not family of the narrator). Most accounts were fairly predictable but were perfectly
acceptable.
There were some enjoyable and graphic accounts of these incidents, with few massive
misunderstandings of the points required but, as implied above, excessive length in the treatment
of the earlier points often involved the loss of the final Communication points and it was not
uncommon to find the word limit had been reached even before the deterioration in the weather let
alone the move to a hotel. Many candidates added a completely unnecessary and detailed
account of how they enjoyed themselves on the beach after setting up their camp and, in so doing,
almost inevitably failed to cover all the required points before reaching the limit.
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The best stories were lively and fluently written, using a range of appropriate vocabulary and
structure. In general, the vocabulary was accessible but few knew the appropriate terms for putting
up a tent (construire was widely used instead of monter or dresser). Tense usage was sometimes
suspect with, again, confusion between the Imperfect and Perfect/Past Historic and careless errors
in other areas (gender, agreement of adjectives, incorrect use of object pronouns, misspellings)
frequently cost Language marks.
Question 3
Translation into French
This was again the most popular of all the options and often produced work of a very high standard. The
vocabulary and grammatical structures required seemed largely to be available to many candidates though
some of the structures, inevitably, proved to be more difficult. What seemed to be careless errors rather than
lack of knowledge accounted for a large proportion of lost marks – confusion of ‘the’ and ‘a’, for example.
While the marking principles are identical (ticks are given for correct units of language and errors are
ignored) it should be pointed out that this is a rather different exercise from the essay. The linguistic
demands for the translation are very precise and, in most cases, the English will transfer directly into French
without the need for paraphrase, circumlocution or drastic changes in word order. Candidates are advised
always to translate exactly what the English says and not to seek to use alternative words if this is not
necessary. The Examiners will not credit French which strays too far from the sense of the English original
without good reason.
No points proved universally impossible but difficulties were experienced with a number of items.
Paragraph A
Unaccountably, vingtième often became douzième.
‘Too much’ – trop was poorly known; often combined with beaucoup.
Paragraph B
There appeared to be no intrinsically particularly difficult points. Marks were lost through
careless translation of minor points - à for vers (‘towards the station’), le for son (‘his train’),
the same error for ‘his ticket’, le for un (‘on a bench’).
Paragraph C
The correct spelling of compartiment proved elusive. This paragraph perhaps contained
more difficult grammatical points than the first two but these were often well handled
although few recognised the need for the infinitive construction à manger after the verb
passer. The relatively basic adverbial phrases plus tôt and plus tard were not always
correctly translated.
Paragraph D
The two most difficult phrases potentially – ‘he must have arrived’ and ‘he did not recognise
anything’ were sometimes well translated. However, easy marks were lost through sheer
carelessness – ‘he woke up’ mistranslated as il se leva; ‘a small town’ as un petit village;
wrong agreement on situé. It is just as important in this exercise to concentrate on getting
the small points right as it is to score in the more complex structures.
Paragraph E
The more testing sections in this paragraph were ‘opposite a sign’ where neither of the
elements was well known and the last phrase, ‘he would not eat so much at parties’ where
poor handling of the Conditional was noted as well as uncertainty over the adverb ‘so much’.
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FRENCH
Paper 3015/02
Reading Comprehension
General comments
Overall candidates appeared to be very well prepared for this paper and found it accessible. Some
candidates would benefit from closer reading of the text. In most cases presentation was good and
handwriting legible.
Comments on specific questions
Section 1
Very few candidates had any difficulty with this section.
Problems occasionally arose with the following questions:
Exercise 1
Question 1 Some candidates did not select A, so did not seem to understand poulet rôti.
Question 3 There was sometimes an apparent confusion between natation and équitation as some selected
C as their response.
Exercise 2
Question 8 A significant number of candidates decided that this statement was true. It is possible that they
mis-read or misunderstood joueur, which suggests that closer reading of the text is advisable.
Exercise 3
Question 12 Some candidates offered E as a response suggesting that they thought that one might sing
whilst playing the guitar; again close reading of the text is recommended.
Section 2
Exercise 1
Many candidates scored extremely well on this exercise.
Problems sometimes arose with the following questions:
Question 18 In some cases candidates generalised and said that Lucas ate nourriture riche en calories or
similar; whilst this is true, candidates are required to make responses which refer specifically to the text.
Question 19 Some candidates stated that Lucas ate hamburgers etc. during family meals, perhaps missing
presque rien in the text.
Question 25 Weight loss was sometimes given as the reason for Lucas’ happiness.
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Exercise 2
Again a high percentage of the candidature produced very good responses. Some errors may have been
avoided by closer reading.
Problems sometimes arose with the following questions:
Question 26 Although most candidates understood that Henri Gouès was a priest, a few responded
confusingly with Il fait (le) prêtre.
Question 27 There was some confusion over dates with a number of candidates suggesting that he became
a priest in 1954 or became l’Abbé Pierre after the Second World War.
Question 30 A significant number seemed to miss that the death of the woman and baby triggered the radio
appeal.
Question 31 Some candidates listed the goods supplied by the benevolent and missed the other responses
made to the appeal.
Question 33 Many responded with le même enthousiasme et la même générosité, which, lifted from the text,
does not make sense here.
Section 3
Responses to this exercise were mixed; some candidates seemed to find this very difficult, including some
who had performed very well on the preceding exercises, whilst a significant number scored full or almost full
marks.
The most frequent errors occurred in the following questions:
Question 35 Some appeared to misread the sentence and supplied avons.
Question 38 Some wrote au Sydney.
Question 39 Some supplied que.
Question 41 A significant number wrote et.
Question 45 Various incorrect verb forms were offered here including avons.
Question 49 Some supplied an adjective.
Question 50 There were various verbs supplied here, sometimes infinitives, but rencontrais and rencontrai
occurred too.
Question 52 A significant number of candidates supplied en.
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